On June 5, 2023, former U.S. intelligence officer David Grusch publicly alleged that the federal government and private aerospace contractors operated a multidecade program to recover and reverse-engineer spacecraft of “non-human” origin. Grusch said his claims were based on interviews with roughly 40 witnesses, alleged documents, and information received during his official duties—not on publicly disclosed physical evidence. He also told Congress that he had been informed of recovered “non-human biologics” and that officials had described possible retaliation and deaths connected to concealment, but he did not provide details in the July 26, 2023 hearing.
The hearing created a legitimate oversight question about whether Congress had been excluded from classified special-access programs, prompting proposed UAP disclosure provisions led by Senators Chuck Schumer and Mike Rounds. However, the central extraterrestrial claims remain unverified. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office said it had found no verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial-material programs, NASA said it had found no credible evidence of extraterrestrial life, and AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick said Grusch had declined to speak with his office. Independent scientists likewise characterized the allegations as hearsay lacking testable data or material evidence.
